Jeep Grand Cherokee Truck Build

Show off your work! Anything from final results to full start-to-finish project journals.

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 4:58 pm
We are all sanded up. I swear there is like 15 pounds of this high build primer on the ground now. Everything hand blocked out to 180 grit ready for the Raptor. So the plan is taping out tomorrow night. This taping will allow us to do all of the upper gray around the truck. We will shoot that gray on Friday night, then take all that mask and tape off within about an hour after shooting. On Saturday morning it will be time for the second taping which will allow us to do the bed and all the lower stuff in black. Again all that tape back off after the shoot and the truck needs to sit inside for 7 days while I crank some heat to the building. If I can adust things like I want we should end up with a finer texture on the gray and a more coarse texture on the black. Within that 7 day period it looks like we might be building our camper top, first. We shall see....
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Jeep sanded up.jpg
About 7 hours of sanding, sanding, and more sanding....
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 6:06 pm
Well, two 1/2 days of work out of all of us and maybe $150 or so of mask. So where are we... we masked out and were ready to shoot on Friday night. That night we did the Basalt Gray from just above the cladding line and up. We are using the "new to me" Raptor Vari-Nozzle spray gun. Suggestion....if you even think you are going to be doing more than one session of Raptor on a truck, car, etc., I would buy this gun for the 80 bucks. It allows for an infinite amount of texture choices and looks with the Raptor. It doesn't tend to sling the stuff like the original Shutz guns that come with the bedliner kits. You can turn it down and finesse jam areas. You can turn it up for a heavier texture which will be glossier your first round and then totally flat out the gloss and kill any remants of the dreaded "tiger stripe" effect. There are several subtle features to this gun which make it work better. First the pickup tube is twice the volume size and goes all the way to the bottom of the spray containers. They slit the bottom of that tube to the side so it would pickup down in that bottom. There are two vents in the cap top area probably because of the higher draw rate of the pickup tube. Put a black mark on the brass nozzle and think 2 turns out for fine, 4 turns out for medium, 6 turns out for heavy, and 8 turns out hits like the original Shutz Guns. So when you put this altogether I would say that you might be saving as much a 10% on usage as well, mostly because of the adjustability. See? If you were doing kit cars now and then or other projects using bedliner materials this thing would pay for itself pretty easily.
So, several custom guys have asked me, "Why shoot a bedliner finish instead of regular base/clear gloss?" I think Jeeps, modded pickups, etc., just look kind of natural with these types of coatings. I mean the idea is that you can do some off roading or wilderness camping on the weekend and easily get washed up for work the next week. As I head near the big 70 I've found that I am tired of doing a lot of waxing, detailing, etc., to get a car ready to be "seen." Now, all of us around here want to "drive" what we build, take trips, get stuff from Home Depot, etc.
So take a look at where we are now. We will be putting everything back together over the next couple of days and I'll get some better pic.s..... Okay, Autobody guys I didn't have time to get my pic.s ordered up correctly, so look at the pic.s starting with the bottom one and coming up.
Attachments
X final shoot 16.jpg
Tailgate is in heavier texture as well....
X final shoot 15.jpg
Grill looks great in heavier texture.....
X final shoot 18.jpg
The trim helps define the two colors and textures...
X final shoot 17.jpg
Trim looks great....
X final shoot 14.jpg
You should be able to see the gray line of primer between the colors where our flexible trim mounts.
X final shoot 13.jpg
We are leaving a 1/4 inch primer area so we can put down this 5/16 inch trim the entire length of each side "between" the colors.
X final shoot 11.jpg
Reverse taped and masked here ready to do all the heavier textured black....
X final shoot 10.jpg
Check out this fine texture on the Basalt... very easy to get...
X final shoot 9.jpg
So this is the Basalt Gray. This is a factory kit. Just add the color packet, add the hardener, shake, and shoot...
X final shoot 6.jpg
This is Raptor's Vari-Nozzle gun...
X final shoot 4.jpg
Taping off the 1/4 inch tape down so we can shoot the upper areas...
X final shoot 3.jpg
Tape is 1/4 inch wide and easy to shape.
X final shoot 2.jpg
So my Grandson wanted to get the "beltline" a little higher to give it a more rugged look....that is a crepe fine line tape to get the line.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 8:43 pm
Looks great.
Love the fine texture look, amazing how consistent that gun lays it down.
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 9:49 pm
Yeah, I'm telling you....that gun has totally changed my mind about these bedliner style coatings. I mean you can literally adjust that gun and lay down a heavy textured semi glossy coating and then turn it down and go back and totally kill the gloss and get that fine texture. In person, you can see the texture difference easily between the gray and the black. I even got a completely rougher texture with that grill....... A tip that I picked up from one of the Upol Raptor rep.s too. Always mix the bottles as you need them and always have a "blow out" bottle (first leftover bottle will do fine) filled with urethane reducer to blow the gun out once for every two bottles you spray. Raptor does try to harden cumulatively in the gun even though "most" of it is spraying out. That blow out with thinner completely prevents that.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 03, 2022 4:37 pm
So it is supposed to rain most of this week. So much for getting the thing outside for some shots. So I hurried around here today and got it sort of together and pulled it outside for pic.s. Please keep in mind we still have lot of small stuff to do and cleaning, but you will get the idea....
Attachments
Window Side Install.jpg
So how do you like our side windows? Yeah, they are fake... 3M Controltac Vinyl wrap but I did trim them in real rubber window trim with a glossy bottom trim piece.
X final shoot 19.jpg
We left the tow hooks in chrome....
X final shoot 20.jpg
Color combo really works....
X final shoot 21.jpg
Stance looks decent from any angle....
X final shoot 22.jpg
Aggressive stance, ha, by chance....
X final shoot 23.jpg
Tailgate and bed area turned out great...looks very factory....
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 03, 2022 4:44 pm
Very nice. Bedliner takes a while to fully cure so no rain allowed.
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 03, 2022 5:08 pm
Yep, Upol says 3 days but all their rep.s and dealers say 7 days. We are doing more like 7 or 8 days and I've got my shop at about 75 and will hold it there for about 3 days then down to about 70 for the rest of the remaining days.
So 3 and 1/2 months from hack to pretty much finish including paint and bodywork.... extremely happy Grandson.... I think it went well.... I am super tired though.... :knockout:
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 12:30 pm
Cool build, nice work! :clap: :goodjob: :wink:
Dennis B.
A&P Mechanic, FCC General radio Telephone Operator
Line Maintenance A&P Mechanic and MOC Tech specialist.

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 12:53 pm
Thanks Dennis..... just a bunch of littel stuff to tie up now. Might take me and the Grandson a day or so. In retrospect I do think this is one of the best of the Smyth build conversions.
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 10:20 pm
So my Grandson hit a few hours with me yesterday and we got about 3 more in today. I've got just some minor trim coming in late tomorrow but I don't even think we would have maybe an hour more to finish things up. Got the rear LED strip installed at the top of the bumper. This was more of a safety thing with me. I hate the center high mounted brake lights on the top back of the cap. I think it breaks up the lines of the top of the cap and it's not like a car where the brakes lights are all close to each other. Since we gained bed height I felt is would be safer to have this lighting display back at the bumper more inline with the rest of the rear lighting. We are using the stop light function and the turn signal functions only with this display. I disabled the running lights portion of it as I think you would bet pulled over for it in Ohio anyway. It was a moving/pulsing display too much like an ambulance or emergency vehicle.
And, then there is the roof rack.... You have to take this off for assembly anyway. If you are going to reuse it you have to do a little figuring for length and to still keep it's snap bar features for actually using it for stuff up there. You also now only have 2 bolts securing toward the front so we did not want to drill any further holes in that roof. We did figure a way to install those rear stands which we bolted to the rail, then used 3M heavy duty two sided trim tape down to the top surface. I figured if you were ever going to put much weight up there a bungee going directly down off the back of the rack could go down and attach to the bedwall. The looks of that rack made for a great OEM trim look. So take a look.... And now on to building a camper top!
Attachments
X final shoot 29.jpg
Looks almost factory....
X final shoot 27.jpg
I think the roof rack completes the trim look.
X final shoot 25.jpg
The strip is hardly noticeable when it is not on.....
X final shoot 30.jpg
When the brakes are on the full LED strip hits with red.
X final shoot 31.jpg
Hard to get a pic. of this sequential turn signal in action
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!
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